When François Gabart returned from his round the world record on 17 December, he was a little exhausted. So, he spent time recovering with his family after the 42 days 16 hours and 40 minutes of sheer intensity. "The recovery period is not completely over. I will still need a few weeks to get back into shape," he believes. "My goal is to get back into full form by 4 November for the start of the Route du Rhum–Destination Guadeloupe." As the MACIF trimaran's skipper practically hasn't sailed in six months, he quickly got back to doing sport to make recovery easier. This has been mostly on water, in the form of kayaking, surfing and stand-up paddle boarding, in the very focussed manner we all know so well. "It's the ideal way to prepare yourself physically, but also in terms of sensations, especially since in the last few weeks I have been paddle boarding on a paddle with a foil. This comes closer to the kind of problems I encounter on my boat." At the same time as getting back into shape, François Gabart travelled all over France to meet Macif's employees, who, for 42 days, passionately followed his triumphant march towards his record. "These are always special moments. If I do this job, it's because I'm really passionate about it, but it's also to share the things that happen to me afloat with the people who follow me ashore," he explains.

After a lot of sailing the seas single-handed in 2017, François Gabart has spent most of his time with his team and in his offices in Port-la-Forêt in the last six months. The reason was simple: there was lots to do with, primarily, the transformation of the current MACIF trimaran to achieve a better flight mode. "Right from the start of the boats design, back in 2013, we factored in this development project. We already knew that we would need to make considerable changes during the winter refit of 2017-2018. We really got down to thinking about it in spring 2017, with most of the design work being carried out in the following months," he explains. This is a design phase in which he has been heavily involved: "It's important to be there to make sure that the developments match your requirements, when you need to push your boat to the limit at sea," confirms François Gabart, adding this about the over 6-month long refit: "The goal was to give MACIF a boost after more than two years of sailing during which we mainly worked on making her more reliable, successfully, since there was no major damage during the round the world. In this instance, we focused on performance and particularly flight, which is currently an important factor.

The design work carried out with the MerConcept design office, the VPLP architects and GSea Design, specialized in structural calculations, has led to the construction of new appendages, foils and rudders, but also to a substantial number of details (hydrodynamics, new autopilot, improvement of ergonomics, etc.), which will improve MACIF's performance: "The 2018 version of the MACIF trimaran is very different to the one we have all known up until now. We believe and we hope that this work will help us compete with other boats in the Route du Rhum, particularly the more recent ones. It will be an exciting race, because this will be the first time that our boats meet."

Macif! Thanks Corley-wow, what a surprise: Macif becomes the 5th trimaran and the third Ultim to use a lifting foil on the daggerboard!!! How cool is that! Boy , the Route du Rhum is going to be exciting....

MACIF---- Just noticed this picture -it shows the whole foil system-minus the rudder T-foils. the "UP" tip is particularly noticeable on the ama foils. See the following(next post) video posted by Dolfiman and you can see that the tip portion of the ama foils has been lengthened as have the amas themselves:

Thanks, Dolfiman-here are a couple of pictures. She looks really good on foils!! The Route Du Rhum with Macif, Gitana 17, Banque Populaire-all on foils is going to be one of the most exciting ocean races ever.....
What a rush it must be to take the ride Jimmy did!!!!!

gtrans excerpt from Dolfimans post:At the helm of the MACIF trimaran for nearly 48 hours, James Spithill did not take long to get his bearings, not hesitating to provide his navigation advice to François Gabart and his entire team. "It was immediately very comfortable" said Pascal, "this outing was based on exchanges and mutual listening. What is great is that immediately there is a return on what is happening on board the boat, it is on the settings, the appendices, the way to handle the multihull, the state of the sea , stability. Even if you do not come from the same country, you speak the same language! "A performance-oriented language that James, François and the whole team have repeated over the weekend, on the ground this time, to debrief and take stock of this first very constructive exchange. A transfer of skills obviously appreciated by François Gabart. "What strikes me is his ability to understand the boat, to get involved in the maneuvers. He seems surprised by the stability of the boat despite the speed. "

(Side??) James Spithill, the experience on the trimaran MACIF also remains a very beautiful discovery. "He enjoyed himself and had a great time aboard. I even think he was hallucinating when the boat was at full speed in the night under autopilot, " smiles Pascal. We are two times winner of the America's Cup, driving the trimaran MACIF leaves no one indifferent ...

I'm not used to superlatives, but this night rush video above, yes …. just extraordinary !
By hoping Banque Pop IX can get very soon its new mast and Armel has time enough to be also at this level of performance.

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